Autumn Newsletter
Wed 28th Oct 2009
K1 Designs! Unique knitting patterns now available as pdfs!
Ahhhh! I have so much exciting news to tell you! New yarns, new fabrics, new buttons, new bags, new patterns ALL MADE IN SCOTLAND! And more, more more! Where do I begin!
I think I must begin by introducing the K1 Yarns Design Team. At K1 Yarns all of our staff are not only experienced knitters and crocheters, they are designers as well! Our home-designed range of K1 Yarns patterns is growing week by week and they are all designed by our own amazing Glasgow and Edinburgh staff: Devin, Jo, Kristen, Katharine, Susan and Vala. Although all of our patterns are available to purchase at our shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh, a growing range is now also available to buy as pdfs online. To find our more about our own talented designers please see the books and pattern department in our online shop. Or why not stop by for a chat and meet us in person at our Glasgow and Edinburgh shops! We will be happy to show you our latest designs (and tell you what is on the drawing board for the future so you can get there first).
At K1 yarns we not only love to knit and crochet, we love to SEW as well! We are all sewing fanatics! We realized recently, as we were scrolling through the internet trying to find new and unusual hand-printed fabrics, that there were loads of talented and artistic people living close by in Edinburgh and Glasgow. So we got some of them together and asked them to come up with some beautiful fabric designs and print them just for us! The result is K1 Cloths, a collection of specially commissioned hand printed fabrics entirely made in Scotland! We are so excited about these beautiful fabrics! They are one of a kind and available to buy as either fat quarters for quilting and small craft projects, or as 2 meter dress lengths for garments. Larger quantities can also be produced to order. So if you want to make something truly original, see our new K1 Cloths and find out more about the artists online in our K1 Cloths department.
K1 Yarns is committed to supporting the Scottish wool industry. This year we have been working on new ranges of Scottish yarns, which are either grown, spun, dyed or all of the above in Scotland! Each of these yarns supports several different Scottish artisans, many of whom work on their own in remote parts of Scotland to produce these beautiful yarns. We have been working with local mills such as New Lanark organic mill in Lanarkshire, and several Scottish hand-dyers, including Old Maiden Aunt and Orkney Angora to produce new ranges of yarns that take advantage of Scotland’s unique textile skills and craftsmanship. We kicked off the year with our Selkie range, and now we are pleased to introduce 3 more exclusive yarns to the K1 range:
Our Linen 4 ply range is already a huge hit! These beautiful yarns include pure linen, linen/cotton and linen/viscose blends in a wonderful range of unique colours. Each 100 g skein has approximately 700 m of yarn! Our popular Waverly pattern is now available to purchase online and takes only 2 skeins of K1 Linen yarn (3 for large sizes)!
For extra soft and machine washable knits our new K1 Hand-dyed Superwash Merino is a yarn you and your family will love. If there is someone on your Christmas list who longs for an ‘itch-less’ jumper then these DK yarns, hand-dyed in Scotland, are the perfect choice. Machine washable in cold water makes them easy to care for too!
Our most recent addition to the K1 range is one of our big favourites! The K1 design team is going crazy for our new Scappa, 100% Scottish DK yarn! Spun especially for K1 Yarns at the New Lanark Mill just outside of Glasgow and hand-dyed in the Scottish Isles, this yarn is truly beautiful and one of the best priced hand-dyed yarns around!
Many of our customers are already familiar with the beautiful range of knitter’s handbags created especially for K1 Yarns by Quinne of Edinburgh. Some of our customers (and staff) have become collectors of these beautifully hand-made bags, never 2 the same, created with the ‘Urban Knitter’ in mind! Each bag is created from beautiful fabrics, many of which are sourced from Scotland, and feature many special secret ‘knitters’ compartments for women who run from business meetings, to their favourite knitting meetup group, to a night on the town with their needles and wool all cleverly close at hand!
I recently discovered an amazing new ceramic studio not far from our Glasgow shop, Studio at 37 (www.studioat37.com), which is located down Ruthven Lane in Glasgow’s West End (not far from the new Waitrose). After meeting the artists there I commissioned a unique new range of porcelain buttons, which have just arrived this week and are now available at both of our shops and online! These charming buttons have a very vintage look and they feel wonderful. See them on Katharine Walker’s new Highland Cardi pattern (see our K1 Patterns department at www.k1yarns.com). They come in assorted sizes and colours from wee shirt buttons to giant 8.5 cm buttons! They are all hand made in Scotland and will add unique charm to your next project.
Scotland’s artists keep us stocked up with amazing yarns, cloths, bags and accessories, but each season we also seek out new and hard to find ranges from the rest of the world to keep up with the latest trends and to offer our customers (and ourselves) new inspiration! This autumn we welcome new yarns from one of our favourite UK suppliers, Rooster Yarns. Rooster is well known for their high quality DK and Aran weight Almerino yarns, a soft blend of Alpaca and Merino wools. This autumn we have also introduced the new Rooster Baby range, a 100% Merino superwash wool that is perfect for baby knits!
Also new from Artesano, the Silk Embrace range. This wool looks very much like a classic mohair yarn, with the exception that it is much MUCH softer. Made from Suri Alpaca and silk, this yarn is luxuriously fluffy, but has none of that irritating itchiness often associated with mohair yarns. If you have had to stop wearing mohair because you end up with an itchy red rash than this is the yarn for you! Come in today and feel for yourself!
We love Schoppel Wolle sock yarns. Their bright colours and soft striping patterns are so popular. Now we have the same range of yarns in the Aran weight pure lambswool Schoppel Wolle Reggae yarn. This yarn is simply flying off the shelves due to the great colours and even greater price! So stock up quickly!
As we lead up to the holidays watch out for many special and limited edition items from some of our favourite yarn artists including Fyberspates, the Knitting Goddess and our own range of K1 Yarns Sew-it-Yourself kits! Our newest addition to the range is the wonderful Tie-Dye Sock kit! These kits allow you to make your own hand painted sock yarn in your own kitchen! In this kit you will get a skein of super soft and machine washable merino sock yarn and some specially designed tye-dye strings. Simply tie the strings around the skein and then soak in hot water and a bit of vinegar to fix the dye! It is quick, easy, safe and even kids will enjoy dyeing their own yarn (with a bit of help). This Christmas knit some socks from the yarn that your child painted (a great gift idea too)! Keep watching for these fun gift ideas and some great new last minute Christmas patterns as well!
Believe me, this is not by any means a full list of our new and exciting items. I’m sorry but I just can’t fit everything into one newsletter. But before I sign off don’t forget about our special Christmas Fyberspates Trunkshow! Jeni and her Elves are dying up many beautiful yarns for you and will be bringing them all to our Glasgow shop on Saturday 28 November, and to our Edinburgh shop on Sunday 29 November! So why not stop by for a Christmas cookie and stock up on some beautiful hand-painted yarns! See you there!
Happy Knitting
Katharine
Knits & Pieces
Tue 6th Oct 2009
The National Museum of Scotland is celebrating Scotland's heritage of knitting this week with a variety of knitting-themed events for the whole family!
Friday 9th 12:00-17:00
Knitting & Crochet Crèche: Drop in, and bring your own knitting or crochet work. Whatever your skill level, have fun learning or helping others to knit or crochet.
Woolly Art Activities: Pompom making, woolly/felt pictures for families of all ages.
Displays & demos:
* Simple spindles for hand spinning wool; can be taken away. Devised by Tayce Phillipson, Curator of Modern Science and Computing.
* How to knit, crochet & felt: books from NMS library services, Laminated “how to” learning sheets, K1 Yarns knitting wools, knitting needles, crochet hooks, etc.
* Plasma screening: Museum of Costume, & Jean Muir Exhibition. Art Students fashion show.
* .
Special Themed Tour: at 14:30 “Textiles and Embroidery in Scotland”, Odile Hughson
Saturday 10th October
Knitting, Crochet Crèche: Drop in, and bring your own knitting or crochet work. Whatever your skill level, have fun learning or helping others to knit or crochet.
Woolly Art Activities; Pompom making, woolly/felt pictures for families of all ages.
Displays & Demos:
* Simple spindles for hand spinning wool; can be taken away. Devised by Tayce Phillipson, Curator of Modern Science and Computing.
* Jute industry and jute coffin linings; Sandra Thomson, McGregor Balfour, Dundee
* How to knit, crochet & felt: books from NMS library services, Laminated “how to”
learning sheets, wool, knitting needles, crochet hooks, etc.
* Plasma screening: Museum of Costume, & Jean Muir Exhibition. Art students fashion Show.
* Spinning and felting demonstration: Liz Brown, Heartfelt by Liz
* K1yarns: donation of wools from Katherine Walker, owner
Special Themed Tour: at 14:30 “Textiles and Embroidery in Scotland”, Odile Hughson
Talks in Dunfermline Room:
“Textile Conservation” Lynn McClean, Head of Paper & Textile Conservation at
11:00-11:40 & 13:30-14:10
“Jute Industry & Coffin Linings” Sandra Thomson, Director McGregor Balfour (Textiles) Ltd & David Wilkie 12:00-12:40 & 15:00-15:40
